BARNEGAT BAY-Not Just Any Marsh Will Do

This summer thousands of Common Terns and other sea birds will be using the salt marsh islands off the coast of New Jersey as a refuge for raising their young. But these terns have some pretty specific tastes and not just any island will do. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Joanna Burger is a professor of biology at Rutgers University.

“The average person when they look at this salt marsh, they see a large expanse of grass that goes on forever and it doesn’t seem to be much different. But in fact there are very subtle habitat differences from one place to another in the marsh.”

Even though the salt marshes all looked the same, the Terns seemed only to be interested in a select few. Hoping to learn more about the kind of habitat the Terns preferred, Professor Burger and her colleagues began to compare the marshes that the Terns had chosen.

“And using the characteristics that the Terns themselves used, we found that there were only thirty five islands that fit the characteristics that the Terns seemed to prefer. In some cases it’s because they’re just a little too close to the water and they get flooded all the time. In some cases, they’re just a little too high and they have rats that move onto the islands. In other cases, they’re too close to land and a fox can swim over in the winter and even during the summer. But this kind of an island is sort of far enough from the mainland. Far enough away from the barrier beach. It’s got nice tidal pools that the birds can use for foraging. So, the moral of it is that although all these salt marsh islands look the same, there are very subtle differences which the birds are selecting. And those islands that have nesting birds we really need to protect because the other islands just aren’t as suitable.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

BARNEGAT BAY-Not Just Any Marsh Will Do

By watching the habitat choices of migrating seabirds, we begin to notice the subtleties separating the different salt marshes of the Jersey Shore.
Air Date:08/27/1998
Scientist:
Transcript:

This summer thousands of Common Terns and other sea birds will be using the salt marsh islands off the coast of New Jersey as a refuge for raising their young. But these terns have some pretty specific tastes and not just any island will do. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Joanna Burger is a professor of biology at Rutgers University.

"The average person when they look at this salt marsh, they see a large expanse of grass that goes on forever and it doesn't seem to be much different. But in fact there are very subtle habitat differences from one place to another in the marsh."

Even though the salt marshes all looked the same, the Terns seemed only to be interested in a select few. Hoping to learn more about the kind of habitat the Terns preferred, Professor Burger and her colleagues began to compare the marshes that the Terns had chosen.

"And using the characteristics that the Terns themselves used, we found that there were only thirty five islands that fit the characteristics that the Terns seemed to prefer. In some cases it's because they're just a little too close to the water and they get flooded all the time. In some cases, they're just a little too high and they have rats that move onto the islands. In other cases, they're too close to land and a fox can swim over in the winter and even during the summer. But this kind of an island is sort of far enough from the mainland. Far enough away from the barrier beach. It's got nice tidal pools that the birds can use for foraging. So, the moral of it is that although all these salt marsh islands look the same, there are very subtle differences which the birds are selecting. And those islands that have nesting birds we really need to protect because the other islands just aren't as suitable."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.